


Wear My Sign

by syriala



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Incest, M/M, Necklaces, Uncle/Nephew Incest, talia was a little bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-07 19:58:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14088519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syriala/pseuds/syriala
Summary: The first time Derek saw Peter wear a necklace he froze right up.It brought back all kinds of hurtful memories, of rejection and loss, of warm lips on his back, and Derek was glad when Peter left the loft without a glance in his direction.





	Wear My Sign

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Teen Wolf 'Cest Appreciation Week, day 5 hurt/comfort/sick!fic.

Derek had the pendant made before he even got the appointment for the tattoo. He had flipped it over and over again in his hand, imagining what the triskelion would look like on his back; imagining how the pendant would look on a necklace around Peter’s neck.

Getting the tattoo had hurt more than he could ever have imagined, the white-hot burn of the fire eating deep into his skin, but the result was worth it.

It looked good, pitch black against his skin and when he showed Peter, he saw the appreciation on his face, saw how his eyes roamed over his exposed back and Derek couldn’t help but flex a little, just to see Peter’s reaction.

When Peter reached out to lightly trail his fingers over the tattoo, Derek had grabbed for the pendant.

“I had this custom made,” he croaked out, voice almost breaking with nerves as Peter only raised an eyebrow in question.

He held the pendant out for Peter, already on a necklace so Peter wouldn’t have to go looking for one, and Peter took it from him, fingers brushing against his hand.

“Custom made,” Peter mumbled, smoothing a thumb over the pendant.

“They don’t make it in black,” Derek explained and Peter’s eyes flew back to Derek and his still exposed tattoo.

“How very daring of you, sweetheart,” Peter said, voice low, and Derek flushed even before Peter pressed his lips to the pendant.

Derek didn’t know what to say to that, because yes, it was oh so daring of him, but he figured he didn’t have to find words when Peter gently turned him around again.

Derek felt the warm breath on his back before Peter pressed his lips between his shoulder blades, right over the place where the triskelion was burned into his skin now.

It was the first time he felt Peter’s lips against his skin and Derek was sure the memory would forever be seared into his memory; he was certain he would feel the warm shape of Peter’s lips for weeks after this.

“I wholeheartedly approve,” Peter whispered against his skin and Derek went weak in the knees.

By the time he felt stable enough to actually turn around again, Peter was gone.

Derek never saw him wear the necklace.

~*~*~

The first time Derek saw Peter wear a necklace he froze right up.

It brought back all kinds of hurtful memories, of rejection and loss, of warm lips on his back, and Derek was glad when Peter left the loft without a glance in his direction.

Derek was sure that Peter hadn’t worn anything around his neck when he had killed him, had buried him, so this had to be a recent development.

It had to be something new and Derek hated it with a passion even he was surprised at. But as much as he could feel the anger well up in him, there was an equally strong hurt blooming up in his chest.

Peter wore the necklace constantly after that, and Derek had thought at the beginning that his reaction would lessen at some point, but it hadn’t happened so far.

He saw the metal peeking out from under Peter’s collar, or saw the chain disappear into one of his many V-necks and Derek froze for a second before the now familiar feeling of _hatehurt_ set in.

Derek had imagined what his pendant would look like around Peter’s neck, of course he had, he had loved the image of the silver and black metals on his uncle’s skin. But now he was being taunted by the silver, unable to look for too long at it, even though he had to admit that it was a tantalizing view.

Peter’s neck was made to wear something around it, now even more so than when he was younger, but since it wasn’t Derek’s claim he wore, it was unbearable.

Peter didn’t seem to notice Derek’s plight though, for which he was grateful.

He had no idea if he would be able to explain himself if Peter ever asked him.

Derek himself hadn’t asked Peter about the pendant, hadn’t asked what happened to it, why Peter never wore it, too afraid of the pain his words would cause. Seeing Peter without the necklace had brought enough pain already.

And now, after everything, Derek was sure he never wanted to hear Peter reject him like that. There was so much potential for animosity between them now, they both had caused so much hurt to the other, and Peter had a ruthless streak a mile wide, even without the insanity. Derek wasn’t ready to be taken apart by his uncle’s words, probably never would be.

So he tried to ignore it, tried to put Peter and the necklace out of his mind, but it was difficult. Peter claimed to have his own apartment, but he was at the loft more nights than not, and the necklace was just long enough to hide the pendant under the low cut of the V-necks he wore.

Derek had briefly debated slipping into the bathroom when Peter was taking a shower, just to take a peek at the pendant, but he knew that Peter would notice, so he didn’t.

But he couldn’t quite avert his gaze, couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering over the necklace over and over again and eventually Peter did notice.

“What?” he asked one evening, eyes not moving away from the fridge he was looking into, slightly bend forwards and the necklace falling against the soft thin cotton of his shirt, but still out of sight.

Derek ground his teeth before he pressed out: “You’re wearing a necklace.”

Peter turned around, food forgotten in the fridge and raised an eyebrow.

“And? What’s it to you?” he inquired, crossing his arms over his chest.

 _Why did you never wear mine?_ Derek wanted to ask.

_What could possibly be important enough to you now to wear this?_

_Why didn’t you love me?_

But Derek new his voice would break over the words, that he wouldn’t be able to utter a full sentence, and in the end, what came out of his mouth was “I hate you.”

Something complicated flashed over Peter’s face at that, but he had himself back under control a second later; too fast for Derek to figure out what just happened.

“It’s not like that’s a surprise,” Peter sneered and then shouldered past him, forcefully pushing Derek out of the way before he left the loft altogether.

Derek felt like he couldn’t breathe, like someone was squeezing his lungs and heart, but he was well accustomed to the feeling by now, so he took a deliberate deep breath, relishing in the pain before he tried to lock it all away again.

Peter and he didn’t have a chance before the fire. It came as no surprise that they had no chance now either.

~*~*~

Derek had tried to behave like always, but the necklace had quickly worn him thin, despite his best resolutions. He was snappish and angry and he let it all out on Peter, he knew it, but he also couldn’t change it.

Peter was hurting him, however inadvertently, and Derek was lashing out.

So much in fact that even the rest of the pack noticed his grumpier than usual behaviour.

And in true pack fashion they brought it up during movie night.

“So Derek,” Stiles started without actually turning away from the movie.

“What,” Derek wanted to know, desperately trying to ignore that the shirt Peter was wearing was really tight and he could at least tell that the pendant on the necklace was flat.

This damn thing was driving him mad.

“Who did Peter kill to warrant this much hostility?” Stiles cheerfully asked and Derek froze on the couch.

His eyes darted over to Peter, gauging his reaction, but Peter had only huffed before he got up.

“It’s not like I need to kill someone new. It looks like my past transgressions finally caught up to him,” Peter stated nonchalantly before he left for the kitchen.

“See, my theory is actually different,” Stiles cheerfully said and got up to follow Peter.

Derek kept a close eye on them, but he didn’t comment, unwilling to voice even a quarter of what was happening.

“Oh, please, do enlighten us,” Peter said, voice dripping with sarcasm and at this Derek looked back at him Peter, away from Stiles and his scheming face.

Peter’s use of sarcasm has always been a week spot for him and it was not different now.

Derek looked back at Stiles just in time to see him dart forward, apparently catching Peter by surprise, because he managed to hook a finger under the necklace and pull before Peter grabbed his arm and forcefully moved it away from him.

It was only a second, just a flash really, but Derek’s heart had stopped all the same.

The pendant looked suspiciously like the one he had given Peter a lifetime ago and he didn’t know how to handle that.

“I need to…,” he started and stumbled to his feet, legs and arms going numb with shock at what he saw. With the feelings that came up all over again.

His pack was looking at him questioningly, but Derek couldn’t explain, wasn’t even able to really talk so he snarled out a “Leave,” and then scrambled up the stairs, desperate to get away from them, from Peter.

He was still numb when he closed the door to his room, but as soon as he realized that there was nothing more to do but fall apart in peace his hands began to shake and his knees wobbled dangerously.

He didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why Peter would never wear the necklace when it still would have meant something and why he was doing it now when Derek had just begun to accept that Peter had apparently never seen him the same way.

It had taken him years to be able to look at Peter without feeling like he was drowning in his feelings; years to get used to the constant ache in his chest whenever he even thought about Peter.

And when Peter came back from the dead, saner and more like his old self, Derek had tried to keep his feelings down, to not let Peter notice that he still had this power over him and he had thought it was working well.

And it had been working well, right until Peter came home with that fucking necklace.

The necklace that was apparently his. The necklace he gave Peter instead of voicing his feelings for him.

It was mean, downright cruel of Peter, because the only reason Derek saw for this was that Peter was mocking him; for his feelings and his hopes Peter had already so thoroughly destroyed years ago.

It was this thought that finally sparked some anger in Derek.

How dare Peter hit him again and again when he was already down, when he already knew that he had lost every and all chance he could have ever had with Peter?

Derek’s hands were still shaking, but it was with anger and rage now and he decided that he had enough.

He yanked his bedroom door open and stormed down the stairs, only distantly noticing that the pack had left, before he confronted Peter, who was still in the kitchen.

Derek could faintly hear the jeep starting up, so apparently his break down had taken less time than he had thought.

When Derek had stormed into the kitchen, Peter had turned towards him, eyebrow raised in silent question, but his posture was dismissive.

“Why are you doing this?” Derek demanded to know.

“Doing what?” Peter asked and crossed his arms in front of him and Derek’s gaze fell to his chest.

“This,” he spit out and grabbed the necklace, much like Stiles had.

Peter let it happen, though he didn’t seem happy about it and Derek pulled the necklace out.

There was the faintest tremor to his fingers when he finally got a good look at the pendant.

It was the one he had gotten for Peter, the black triskelion looking just like the day he had given it to Peter, no obvious mark on it and Derek saw red.

“How dare you,” he hissed and pulled the necklace from Peter’s neck. “How dare you do this now?” he asked and closed his fingers around the pendant, feeling the edges biting into his hand.

“It’s not like you give a fuck,” Peter snapped in return and finally lowered his arms, but his hands were clenching at his sides. “You hate me, remember?”

“Why are you wearing this now, when you’ve never done so before?” Derek asked and he hated how his voice wavered, how it almost broke over the words.

“Going by the fact that you killed me, I knew you wanted me dead, but I didn’t think it had started that early,” Peter gave back and it was such a confusing statement that all the anger left Derek.

“What?” he asked and Peter scoffed.

“You could have just told Talia to kill me, it would have been easier,” Peter told him and started to move away from Derek, back into the living room.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Derek admitted and he hated this, hated that Peter could make him doubt himself with just a few words and he wanted answers.

Peter whirled around and Derek could smell his anger, it was so strong.

“Don’t pretend, little nephew,” he said, tone mocking and Derek felt like he was being flayed open. “Don’t pretend like you ever even wanted this to mean anything. Like you gave a fuck about us.”

“What…,” Derek started and he was aware of how pleading it sounded, how confused, but he didn’t understand, didn’t understand where this hate came from, where this anger came from and he couldn’t take it anymore.

“You never wore it,” he said and raised his hand, which was still clutching the necklace. “You took it, you gave me hope, and then you never wore it and never even explained yourself. What did you think would happen? What did you think was the message I took away from that? I put myself out there, I…. god, I got this for you because I loved you and you pretended to care and then dropped me like it never meant a thing to you,” Derek said and it hurt, it hurt to finally put it all out there, but it was also cleansing in a way Derek hadn’t expected.

“How dare you put this on me,” Peter hissed and his eyes flared blue for a second. “You gave this to me, days after Talia told us that it would never happen and expected what? That I would show it off whenever I got the chance? That I would put myself in danger, that I would put _you_ in danger? And for what? Tangible proof that we loved each other? You never gave any indication you wanted this beyond this thing,” he almost yelled at Derek and then sneered. “If this damn necklace is all you care about, you can keep it,” he said with a nod to Derek’s hand.

“Talia did what?” Derek asked, numb feeling spreading out again.

He never even considered that something might have happened, that his mother had a hand in this but he could almost see how it would fit.

“Don’t pretend now,” Peter said and rubbed his temple, sounding tired of this argument already.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Peter, please,” Derek pleaded. “Talia never talked to me about you,” he said and something in his voice must have convinced Peter that he was telling the truth.

“She told me she was going to talk to you,” Peter said, and he sounded desperate now. “I believed her, but of course she was lying,” he muttered and Derek almost reached out to him.

“Tell me what happened?” he asked, and startled when he saw the pain in Peter’s eyes.

“She ordered me to her office, two days before you came to me with this,” he nodded to the necklace again. “She told me in no uncertain terms that she knew about our feelings and that she wouldn’t have it. Her exact words were ‘If I ever see you touch him, no matter in what manner, I will have you eviscerated’ I believe,” Peter explained and Derek could feel his head spinning.

His mom had known?

“She said she was going to talk to you a day later, tell you that this was wrong and then she presented me with university pamphlets. I could leave with full support and as part of the pack or she would cut me off and make me an omega.”

“What?” Derek gasped and thought back to the day before he got his tattoo.

His mother had wanted to talk to him, but it was only to let him know that Laura would be the next alpha and not him. He had wondered what this had all been about, since he had always known that, but he hadn’t further questioned it.

“She talked to you, I saw you go into her office,” Peter said, and clenched his jaw. “She played us,” he then pressed out.

And Derek could see it perfectly now.

“She pretended to tell me, so you would pull away with the hope that we could continue in secret. And she didn’t tell me to make me believe you didn’t care about me when you only pretended to not care,” he summed up and he felt sick with hatred for his mother.

“The necklace was badly timed,” Peter said, voice soft, but he was reaching out for it, and Derek handed it over willingly.

“I thought it was your way of protesting against your mother. So I took it, even though I knew I could never wear it.”

“And I didn’t know that and thought you took it to mock me when you never wore it,” Derek added and then let out a slightly hysterical laugh.

“She played us,” Peter repeated again.

“Where did you keep it, all these years?” Derek asked.

“In my wallet, mostly,” Peter said with a shrug. “I always had it on me. The only time I didn’t was the night of the fire. I didn’t want to risk it, and put it into the vault.”

Peter smoothed his thumb over the triskelion and it seemed to be a familiar move.

“I was too unhinged to remember when I woke up from the fire, but it was the first thing I got back when I came back from the dead,” Peter told him, a soft note to his voice and a small, wistful smile playing around his mouth before his face suddenly got hard.

“Though I do realize that it is too late now,” he said and took a step back, away from Derek and towards the door.

There was a split second where Derek could clearly see it all, how Peter would walk away, and they would scramble to be polite to each other for a few weeks before they would settle into a civil but distant relationship; never touching, never letting the other too close, and Derek hated it.

That was not what he wanted, not what he needed, and he quickly grabbed Peter’s arm.

“It’s not,” he rushed out, gently squeezing Peter’s arm before he let go.

“Derek, you said you hated me. And I get it, I do, but this,” he pointed between them. “It’s not something I can pretend doesn’t exist, doesn’t hurt, and I’m not in the habit of punishing myself.”

“I don’t hate you,” Derek quickly said, hoping to stop Peter from leaving. “I was hurt, so hurt, because you wouldn’t wear my necklace, but something random, something that wasn’t from me, and I couldn’t stand it,” Derek explained and hoped Peter would understand.

“You thought I was mocking you,” Peter finished that train of thought. “You thought I was doing it on purpose.”

“Yes,” Derek nodded. “I didn’t know any better.”

“And now you do,” Peter said and tied the ends of the necklace Derek destroyed by ripping it off together before he slung it over his head.

This time the pendant was resting high enough on Peter’s chest that his V-necks couldn’t hide it.

Derek recognized it for the statement it was.

He reached out and rested his hand on Peter’s chest, right over the pendant and he could feel his heart beating, could feel his chest rising with every breath and Derek realized that this was the first time he touched Peter without violence since the day he gave him the pendant.

It was an exhilarating feeling.

“I still love you,” Derek whispered, gaze firmly fixed on his own hand. “I have always loved you.”

He felt Peter sigh more than he heard it and then Peter reached out to tip his head up.

“Tell me again,” he demanded, forcing Derek to keep eye contact.

“I love you,” Derek said, without hesitation or reservation this time and it felt good, so good to finally say the words and not fear mockery or rejection.

Derek felt Peter’s hand tighten where he cupped his cheek and then Peter was pulling him closer.

“I love you too,” he whispered right before he closed the gap between them to kiss Derek.

Derek curled the hand on Peter’s chest around the necklace while his other clutched at Peter’s side.

The kiss went on longer than it probably should have, but Derek wasn’t ready to let Peter go yet, wasn’t ready to have him move away again and eventually Peter huffed against his lips.

“I’m not leaving,” he murmured, peppering Derek’s cheek and jaw with little kisses before he pressed his face into Derek’s neck to breathe deeply.

“Never again,” Derek whispered into Peter’s hair and wrapped his arms around him. “We lost enough time,” he said and pressed a kiss to Peter’s temple.

He was pretty sure he would vibrate out of his skin, or just float away with how happy he was, but Peter was a comfortable weight against him, grounding him and Derek couldn’t remember ever being this content before.

It was an unfamiliar feeling, but Derek decided he liked it. And he guessed he would have a lot of time getting used to it.


End file.
